


Nothing Ever Comes Out Right

by iktwabrokenbone (apiculteur)



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Arguing, Coming Out, Interviews, M/M, Making Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 03:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1967025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apiculteur/pseuds/iktwabrokenbone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh fucks up and outs him and Tyler during an interview.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Ever Comes Out Right

**Author's Note:**

> my last two skeleboyfriends fics have been from tylers pov about them getting together so i was like 'hey lets make it about an established relationship from joshs pov' and this just sort of happened. also srsly writtenkitten.net is my best friend rn its the best way ever to make yourself write. i have to write 100 words then i get a kitten pic? count me in.
> 
> title from turn off the light by panic! at the disco, because srsly trying to come up with titles is the hardest thing about writing. i just go through playlists on youtube then wait til a lyric that sort fits comes up.

Tyler and Josh had been dating for six months now. Their family and close friends knew, and most of the Fueled by Ramen label probably knew after that one time they had gotten drunk, but they hadn't decided to make it public yet. They just weren't ready for that. There was a lot of speculation going around- they were a two man band, and they had shared a lollipop in one interview, which suggested something homo was going on- but making it official was different.

It meant they would constantly be asked about their relationship, and Josh knew that he could spend hours telling people, "No, I'm not gay, I like women, too," but that would mean absolutely nothing to them. Honestly, Freddie Mercury, one of the most famous openly gay people, wasn't even gay, he was bi. Josh would become Freddie Mercury, but not as talented or as popular.

So they kept it quiet, and sometimes an interviewer would bring up the subject of relationships, ask if they were dating anyone, or if they were dating each other, and Josh would say he wasn't currently in a relationship, or laugh slightly and say he and Tyler were just friends, and it hurt, having to lie to the fans, and denying his relationship with Tyler like he was ashamed of it, but he had to. Tyler and him had agreed to.

But, really, whilst Tyler seemed to be okay with it for the most part, Josh couldn't help but hate it sometimes. And, yeah, okay, he _didn't_  want to be thought of as gay- not because he had anything against gays, just because he preferred to actually be labelled correctly, if he was going to be labelled at all- but he also wanted to not have to stop himself from holding Tyler's hand in public, having to act differently around Tyler in public, hiding.

He mentioned it to Tyler once, and Tyler had said, "I mean, we could come out, if you wanted. Do you want to?" and he had looked sincere, Josh knew he would do it for him, but it was obvious he didn't _really_ want to. And so Josh smiled and shook his head, said it was fine. Tyler didn't quite look like he believed him, but let it go.

They had finished their latest concert about an hour ago, had just washed up and dressed in clothes not soaked with sweat, and were about to do an interview. They weren't super famous- no where near some of the other bands they played with, like Fall Out Boy and Panic- but they were famous enough to sometimes have to do interviews both before and after shows.

The interviewer was a young looking blonde woman, probably about their age. She smiled and laughed at all of their jokes, despite the fact that she didn't seem to understand them all. She was nice, and let them bullshit their way through a story of how they'd met, as though Tyler wasn't trying and failing not to giggle all the way through, and nodded along with a humouring grin on her face as they came up with the least plausible lie they could. They finished each others sentences quite a bit, and she looked between them, obviously putting it together.

"I don't mean to intrude, but you two seem awfully close," she said. It wasn't a question, but the way she said it made it obvious she wanted them to answer it as though they'd been asked if they were dating.

"Yeah, we're buddies," Tyler said, being purposefully obtuse. Josh wanted to tell her that they were best friends, and also dating. Josh wanted to tell her how in love with Tyler he was. He wanted to be sappy and lame with Tyler.

The interviewer shook her head. "I meant in a way slightly more than friends. Is there anything romantic between the two of you?" This time, she wasn't letting them avoid the question.

 _Yes_ , Josh thought. He didn't want to keep lying, and sort of felt like an idiot about how upset about this he was.

Josh and Tyler exchanged a glance, and Tyler shook his head. "No, we're just-"

Josh cut him off with a kiss. It was easy enough; they were sitting thigh-to-thigh, shoulders touching. He only had to turn his head, put a hand on Tyler's cheek to encourage him to do the same. He went willingly, and for a second or two, he kissed back. Then he froze. Jerked away.

"Um. I'll take that as a yes, then," she said, sounding a mix between amused and confused. Maybe even slightly concerned.

Josh felt very concerned. Josh was freaking out. Josh had fucked up. _Shitshitshitshitshitshit_ , he thought, and Tyler was staring right at him, and Tyler was going to shout at him as soon as they got out of here. Right now, he just kind of smiled and laughed, not looking like he meant it in the slightest.

Behind the cameras, a few people were whisper-shouting at each other. Josh just kept a smile plastered on his face. This was _not_ what he wanted. This was the exact opposite of what he'd wanted, and everyone knew it was his fault.

There were a few more awkward minutes of the interview left, and then they all said thank you, as though this had been a pleasant experience, and then went through their polite goodbyes. As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, Tyler and Josh rushed off as quickly as possible.

The interview had taken place on the venue they had played at, and so there were a bunch of empty dressing rooms. Tyler grabbed Josh by his upper arm and dragged him into a vacant room, suitably far away from anyone and everyone else.

"What the _fuck_ , Josh?" he hissed, leaning up close to get into Josh's personal space. He shook his head, straightening up and taking a few steps away. He blinked a bit, hands going up to bury themselves in his hair as he shook his head at Josh.

He looked close to tears, and, fuck, Josh felt like utter shit. Tyler probably felt worse, which made _him_ feel even worse.

"I told you! I said to you that if you wanted, we could come out, and you said _no_ ," he said, dropping his hands from his face to smack against his thighs on the 'no'. "You could've just said! We could've done this properly."

Josh shook his head minutely, dropping his gaze to the floor. He regretted it more than he could ever put into words. He hadn't thought he could ever regret kissing Tyler. He wished he didn't have to regret it. "Tyler, I- I'm sorry. I fucked up, I wasn't thinking," he tried, knowing it was pathetic.

Tyler hadn't really wanted to come out in the first place, though he would have for Josh. He was a private guy, liked to keep things to himself, especially when this would just end up becoming the only thing people heard about them. Whenever Twenty One Pilots were mentioned, it wouldn't be, "Those two guys who wrote that cool song?" it would be, "Aren't they gay?"

Tyler just looked at him, like he couldn't believe that was all he had to say. "Yeah, I realised that you weren't thinking." And he left, door swinging shut behind him, slamming closed too loudly in a quiet place.

Josh sat down on the couch, just breathed deep for a few minutes, then pulled out his phone. He wanted, so much, to call Tyler, but it was almost certain that he wouldn't answer. Josh should give him some time to cool down, anyway.

He scrolled up and down his contacts list again. Mark was another tempting option, but Tyler might have went to him, in which case Mark would probably be angry with Josh, too.  _Josh_  was angry with Josh.

His eyes ended up catching on Pete Wentz's name; Pete and Josh had become quite close friends during the time Josh and Tyler had was lined for them, and he seemed like the kind of person Josh could speak to about this. He clicked on the name and pressed call.

It rang four times before Pete picked up. "Josh, my man! What's up?" Pete greeted, line crackling slightly.

"Hey Pete. Are you free right now? I need to talk o you about something." There was muffled speaking, then Pete was back again.

"I've got time."

Josh told him everything, in one massive, inelegant jumble of words and sighs.

Pete was silent for a few seconds after he finished speaking, and Josh was about to ask if he was still there when he said, " _Dude_. You fucked up, big time." Josh wanted to give him a scathing response, but he was right.

"Yeah, I know."

This time, when Pete paused, he seemed to actually be thinking about what he could do to rectify this. "Well, a similar thing happened with me and Patrick. Just let him ignore you for a few days. You're just gonna upset him more otherwise. And, like, tell him why you did it. But still apologise and say you were wrong," he advised. "Tyler seems like a gentle guy, but he might punch you in the face if you try take the blame off yourself."

Josh tipped his head back to rest against the wall behind the couch, letting out a heavy exhale as he did so. "Yeah. Okay."

They didn't speak for a while, just sat there, silent if it wasn't for their breathing and the line humming and crackling away quietly. He couldn't usually do this with anyone but Tyler, and it felt good. He was calmer. He still felt like shit, but in a less chaotic way.

"D'you think we'll make up?" he asked. He wanted some assurance that this would be cool, that he would be forgiven, eventually.

"I think you two are too close to just stop being friends," Pete said.

"Thanks, Pete."

"No problem."

He hung up, knowing Pete wouldn't mind the lack of a proper goodbye.

***

Josh thanked whatever higher power there might be that they had a five day mini-break from concerts. They would still be away from Ohio, staying in a hotel, but at least they wouldn't have to put the fans through a bad performance just because Josh had fucked up. Thank God for small mercies, or something like that.

Tyler had ignored him to the best of his abilities since the interview. There was a lot of talk of it on the internet, Josh knew from the five minutes spent on Twitter before he shut the computer down. It had been two days, during which they hadn't spoken once. Josh had tried to make how sorry he was obvious, but Tyler hardly spared a glance his way. It hurt, even if he deserved it.

He tried doing little things for Tyler, like buying Yoohoo and Red Bull, and finding an extra blanket for him when Josh noticed he was shivering from the cold in the morning. Tyler didn't acknowledge him at all, blanked him everyone he walked past, and made no comment upon what Josh had done for him. He ignored the Yoohoos the first day after Josh had bought them, which he was sure was him rebelling quietly.

Josh kinda wished it was Tyler who was at fault, if only so he could get mad at him for not accepting his apologies. Or so he could choose to make up with Tyler again. He hasn't been aware until recently just how much he hated fighting with Tyler. He just wanted to play Mario Kart with him and make out in front of several uncomfortable bystanders.

He never heard Tyler getting into his bunk, despite that Tyler's bunk was directly below his own, and Tyler was always there in the mornings. Josh wondered if he just got in extremely quietly, or if he waited for Josh to fall asleep before he got into his bunk.

He wasn't used to arguing with Tyler like this. They didn't agree about everything, but they tended to shrug it off, didn't often shout or stop talking for more than a day. You can't, really, if you want to live together constantly almost all year round.

Now that they had argued properly, Josh decided it was hell, and found himself once again migrating towards fast, loud punk music. It wasn't because he was angry, it was just because punk music was distracting. That, and because he felt like a teenager again.

***

It was on the fourth day that they were stuck in a room together, only shitty daytime television to cover up the silence.

Tyler sighed deeply, picked up the remote to turn it off. He faced Josh properly, and he knew this was his chance to explain himself.

"You don't know how sorry I am. I fucked up so bad, but I didn't mean to do this. I just- I don't like lying about our relationship. And I know you said we could tell people, but you looked like you didn't really want to, so I decided we didn't have to come out. Except I ended up really wanting to and I fucked up." He spoke as quickly as he could, not sure how long Tyler would give him. "I'm so sorry. I was impulsive and stupid and I'm _sorry_."

"I wish you hadn't. I'm not mad at you anymore, though." Josh let out a long sigh of relief. His shoulders relaxed a bit for the first time in days. "The internet's gotta be going crazy. We probably would have had to deal with pretty much this if we'd planned to come out, though. Maybe a bit less, but it doesn't really make much of a difference anymore. But, y'know, next time something like this happens, tell me? Say you don't like it. We'll do something."

Josh nodded, and slowly edged along the couch, towards his boyfriend. Tyler rolled his eyes, smiling, and dragged Josh towards him, making their lips meet. Josh smiled against Tyler's lips, and the kiss itself was kind of shit because of that, but they were kissing, they were _back together_ , and Josh just wanted to hold Tyler close and repeatedly assert that Tyler was _his_ boyfriend, Tyler had forgiven _him_.

Tyler seemed to read Josh's mind, because they were both grinning like idiots now, barely even kissing. "Idiot," Tyler muttered against his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. comments and kudos are appreciated. feel free to tell me if i made any mistakes/give constructive criticism.


End file.
